A DETOUR - Arghhhhh !

An unforeseen event happened, the battery in the laptop suddenly died, so we had to make a detour via Tamworth to visit Battery World, the only place likely to have them in stock. Thankfully they did have one although at a premium price, but I guess at any price you would need one for what has become an essential tool on our travels. We decided to do a little shopping while in this quite large town and unfortunately it was the Thursday before Easter and most shops would be closed tomorrow. Well !!!, from the shopping frenzy going on you would have thought the shops would be closed for a month. Every shopping centre was jamb packed and every checkout had long lines. We quickly grabbed what we needed and made a speedy exit.

Barraba Lion's Park

Our route now took us on through Manilla and on to Barraba for an overnight stop at the Lion’s park rest area just outside town. It was a surprise to see that we were the only ones staying in this neat, tidy well laid out rest area. They have a donation box to help towards the upkeep and we gladly left our contribution. After a quiet and restful night our journey continued, passing through Bingara and Warialda to arrive at Yetman on the Macintyre River. This small village has a great little community run caravan park right on the banks of the river and a powered site is only $10.00 per night. Initially only wanting to stay just one night, with storms threatening it did not take much for us to stay another night. The storms did arrive late afternoon and it rained quite a bit through the night,

Over the Mountains

Leaving Campbelltown our journey was westward over the Blue Mountains with a relaxing overnight stop near Bathurst. On the go reasonably early the next morning saw us in Orange for some shopping to re-supply those essentials again (more beer of course) before a visit with my Dad. We spent most of the day with Dad and we were glad to see that he is doing reasonably well, then in the afternoon we headed off again. An overnight stop was taken just outside Wellington before pressing on through Dunedoo to arrive at Coolah in time for lunch. We spent 2 nights in Coolah at the caravan park to see how this new 'Homebase' system of village ownership works and found it very interesting. All of the residents and staff were extremely friendly and welcoming and we enjoyed our stay.

While in Coolah we took a half-day trip to Coolah Tops National Park. This park is remarkable for it's Grass Trees. We have never seen anything like it anywhere else. You can see it all on a circular walk of just 800 metres. Also worth a look were the Norfolk Falls and Bundella Lookout. Have a look at the photos in the gallery.

Norfolk Falls - Coolah Tops National Park

Giant Grasstrees - Coolah Tops N.P.

Crazy Shapes !!

Bundella Lookout - Coolah Tops N.P.

Family Visits

From the Batemans Bay area it was on to the Ulladulla district to visit Sue's Family. First stop was her sister's place to catch-up and wish Rick (Brother-in-Law) a speedy recovery from his recent knee replacement surgery. Then a visit to Sue's Dad who was also recovering from surgery, this time for a cataract, and all seems to be going well. A few more days was spent in the area re-visiting the above as well as nephew Darren and his family, and boy how those kids are growing.

Leaving Ulladulla we followed the Princes Highway north to Kiama for a couple of days to visit some dear friends and while in town we witnessed the ongoing clean up of damage from a recent freak tornado. It is amazing how some houses were almost totally destroyed (some needed to be demolished) and yet next door was left unscathed.

Northward again from Kiama to the Campbelltown area (S.W. Sydney) to catch up with friends but, most importantly to attend my mother's surprise birthday party. The party was held at the Mt. Annan botanic gardens and was organised by my sister Suzanne, well done Sue!! We were blessed with fantastic weather and it was just fabulous to see all of the family members in attendance and to meet, for the first time, some new additions. I am very pleased to say that Mum was totally surprised and she had a really great day.

Off We GO !!!

Well, here we are, off on the road again. This time we are headed for Karumba Qld. on the shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Just to be different instead of heading north from our home at Port Stephens NSW we actually headed south. Leaving home on Monday 11th March we travelled through the outskirts of Sydney on the M7 towards the Southern Highlands. Our first night was spent at Warri Reserve on the banks of the Shoalhaven River near the town of Braidwood. The next morning we negotiated the Kings Highway down the Clyde Mountain to Batemans Bay for some shopping, just to stock up on some essentials (like beer). Following the Princes Highway south we passed through Mogo and Moruya to a lunch stop at Bodalla. The town of Bodalla is well known for it's dairy products and it's hard to resist pie shop, but we chose a delicious counter meal at the Pub with a cleansing ale to wash it down (can anyone see a trend starting to appear?)

After lunch the highway carried us on through Narooma until we reached the turn-off to Mystery Bay. After two relaxing and peaceful days at one of our favourite camping areas it was time to actually start travelling north. With a brief stop at Tuross Head to catch up with Sue's former work colleagues we then made it all the way to North Head camping ground at Moruya for three days. During our stay at Moruya we visited the weekly markets, caught up with some old friends and even some of our neighbours, Terry & Shirley who had their van set up at nearby Nelligen.